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Was Dylan Talks Tone Wrong About Harley Benton? — Transcript

by Jayce Allan Guitar · 8,117 words · 1,202 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Is Dylan talks tone wrong about Harley
0:02Benton?
0:11Hey everybody, Jace Allen here. Welcome
0:13back to the channel. So, if you follow
0:15guitar channels on YouTube like this
0:17one, there's a strong possibility that
0:19you know who Dylan Talks Tone is. He has
0:23a couple YouTube channels where he
0:24reviews guitars. He has a live stream
0:27and he also runs a small business
0:28selling hand wound guitar pickups. Well,
0:31recently he made a series of videos
0:33reviewing a Harley Benton Les Paul style
0:36guitar. And in one of those videos he
0:39took a sawzall and cut the guitar into
0:41three pieces. All to test the moisture
0:43content of the wood inside. It appeared
0:46that the guitar was unstable, that the
0:48neck was moving. It would be straight
0:50one day and then bowed the next. So, he
0:52got a cheap moisture meter from Amazon,
0:54stuck it into the guitar, but wasn't
0:56quite satisfied with the results. So, he
0:59chopped the guitar into a couple pieces,
1:01and tested it again. And allegedly, the
1:04guitar's moisture content came in above
1:0618%, which is quite bad for a guitar.
1:11And of course, you can guess the
1:12reaction from some people in the
1:14comments to him cutting a brand new
1:15guitar into pieces. It seems Dylan has
1:18been sparring with Harley Benton fans
1:20recently and has even suggested that
1:22they are acting like they are in a cult.
1:25Speaking of cults, I was called a cult
1:27leader last year by someone in my
1:29comments section. That person even went
1:32so far as to say that I should be
1:33investigated by the CIA. And yes, they
1:37were serious. So, I guess someone
1:39commented to Dylan that he should just
1:41buy a Harley Benton guitar and actually
1:43review it. So, that's what he did. Now,
1:46I'm sure cutting the guitar apart was as
1:48much for effect as it was actual
1:50research. I mean, we all want our
1:52content to get views, and with so many
1:55guitar channels out there, you have to
1:56do things to grab people's attention. I
1:59get accused all the time of using
2:00clickbait. So, you can't fault Dylan for
2:03trying to get views. If no one watches
2:05our content, then why are we even making
2:07content? Also, I'm sure he was playing
2:10up to his fans. As content creators, our
2:13channels sort of morph into something
2:15beyond our control. I originally started
2:17this channel wanting to make guitar
2:20reviews and gear reviews and even home
2:22studio recording tutorials. I even did
2:25quite a few tutorials with my CNC
2:28machine on how to make guitar bodies.
2:30But the audience sort of dictated what
2:32content I should be making and my
2:34channel was kind of pushed in a
2:36different direction. My viewers now want
2:38guitar reviews with deep dives where I
2:40take the guitar apart and show what's
2:42under the hood. And they want budget
2:44versus expensive guitar commentary and
2:47guitar comparisons. I also find that
2:50much of my audience are actually
2:52acoustic guitar players because whenever
2:54I do an acoustic guitar review, they
2:56always seem to go over really well. Yet,
2:58my main focus is electric guitars. But I
3:01try to give the people what they want.
3:03So, me being the natural smartass and
3:06instigator that I am, decided that I
3:08would put Dylan's review to a test of my
3:11own. And no, I'm not cutting the guitar
3:14into pieces. Let me start off by saying
3:16I have nothing against Dylan Talks Tone
3:18or Dylan himself. In fact, I'm a
3:20subscriber and watch his content fairly
3:23regularly. However, I don't always agree
3:25with them. We are clearly in two
3:27different camps. He seems to be in the
3:29name brand USAmade guitar camp. And I'm
3:32more or less in the budget guitar camp
3:35regardless of where they are made. He
3:37seems to view guitars more like his
3:39watches and knife collection, something
3:41he's really passionate about and
3:42something that he collects and something
3:44to be admired. He appreciates things
3:47that are wellmade and high-end or high
3:49quality. Totally nothing wrong with
3:51that. Now, I'm less refined than that. I
3:53look at guitars as tools to make music.
3:56And if a $300 guitar makes music just as
3:58well as a $3,000 guitar, but maybe
4:01doesn't look as nice, then I'm okay with
4:03that. That doesn't mean that I don't
4:05appreciate well-made high-end guitars.
4:07In fact, I drove across the state to
4:09Kalazoo a couple years ago to buy my
4:11first Heritage Les Paul. I spent nearly
4:14$3,000 on that guitar, which was
4:16probably the most I'd ever spent on a
4:18guitar up till that point. I still have
4:20that guitar. It's a thing of beauty, but
4:22it weighs 10 lbs and I'm so afraid of
4:25putting a ding or scratch in it that it
4:27rarely leaves the case, which to me
4:29defeats the purpose of a guitar. And I
4:32can buy and review 10 guitars for what
4:35that one guitar cost me. Let me also say
4:38that my point in making this video isn't
4:40to discredit him as a creator or
4:42insinuate that he lied or is being
4:44deceitful. He wasn't conducting some
4:47peer-reviewed lab analysis. He was just
4:50putting out YouTube content about a
4:51cheap guitar. It's not like we're all
4:53solving world hunger or curing cancer
4:55here. I mean, these are just guitars. We
4:58love them. We hate them. We take them
4:59apart to see what they're made of. We
5:01also like to argue about them. It's what
5:03we do. So, that's the spirit of this
5:06video. Maybe call Dylan out on a few
5:08things, maybe poke a little fun, but
5:10also hopefully learn something. Dylan
5:13started the conversation and I'm just
5:14running with it. So, let's get started.
5:16Okay, so the first hurdle was actually
5:19getting a Harley Benton guitar here in
5:21the US. I watched Dylan's video and came
5:24as close as I could to the same model. I
5:27have the SC
5:2955502
5:31FTF.
5:33This is a Les Paul style guitar. So,
5:35let's talk about the specs. Uh, it's the
5:38deluxe series. Uh, the body is a
5:40chambered Moranti wood. So let's pause
5:44there and talk about this Moranti wood.
5:48Uh Moranti, this is from the internet.
5:50Moranti timber comes from trees in
5:52Southeast Asia, Philippines, Malaysia,
5:54Indonesia. Many people misunderstand
5:56that it is a collection of species, not
5:59just a single tree type. The trees that
6:02produce this varied wood are
6:04impressively sized. When mature, some of
6:06the trees harvested can reach heights of
6:08up to 200 feet with trunks extending to
6:11a colossal 90 ft. Morante is moderately
6:14durable. While it's not as hard or
6:16strong as genuine mahogany, it is
6:19sufficiently strong for many
6:20applications. Moranti's workability
6:22makes it a favorite for crafting
6:24furniture, moldings, interior trim, and
6:26even musical instruments. Okay, so
6:29that's all about Moranti. More than you
6:32probably wanted to know. So, back to the
6:33specs of the guitar. It's an arch topped
6:36AAA flame maple. Uh the neck is also
6:39moranti. Fingerboard is rosewood. Has
6:41pearlloid trapezoid fingerboard inlays,
6:44a 60s neck profile. Nut width is 1.65
6:48in. It's a graph tech nut. There's 22
6:51stainless steel frets. It has two Tesla
6:54Opus 1 Alnico 5 humumbbuckers, two
6:57volume two tone three-way switch, deluxe
7:00tunomatic bridge, deluxe clusten style
7:04machine heads, deluxe chrome hardware,
7:06and it comes with diodario number 10
7:08strings. And this one is the faded
7:11tobacco flame high gloss.
7:15Okay, so I ordered the guitar right from
7:17Toman's website on August 17th. The
7:20price on their website in US dollars was
7:22$39. Shipping was $85.71.
7:26So before the guitar even left Germany,
7:29it cost me $39,4.71.
7:32I got an email from Tolman with shipping
7:34confirmation the next day and UPS
7:37shipping confirmation email on the 19th.
7:40Then it arrived in Pennsylvania on the
7:4220th. And then UPS emailed me that, "Oh,
7:45by the way, the US government wants
7:47their tariff." Notice how Toman isn't
7:49paying the tariff and the Chinese
7:51manufacturer of the guitar didn't pay
7:53the tariff either. I pay the tariff. So,
7:56I paid my tariff and the guitar was
7:58released from customs. So, after the
8:00$71.15
8:02cent tariff payment to the US
8:04government, all in on this guitar, I
8:06spent $46,586.
8:09And yes, paid for it with my own money.
8:11This is not a sponsored video. So, let's
8:14pause for a minute and mention that you
8:16can get a Firefly Les Paul guitar for
8:18less than $250 with only $25 or
8:22thereabouts shipping in the US. I also
8:24just ordered a Chillcat Les Paul style
8:27guitar that was under $232.96
8:31out the door with shipping. That guitar
8:33is actually on sale right now. and get
8:36them while you can because that company
8:38has been locking horns with Gibson
8:41lately over the uh body style of their
8:44guitars. And I also have a Heritage
8:47Ascent which is right back here.
8:50And that's H150 LP style guitar.
8:53Heritage sent me that guitar to review.
8:57Uh that review is going to drop on
8:58August 31st. And that guitar is selling
9:02for $699
9:04on the Heritage website, but they also
9:06have uh this is the set neck version.
9:09They also have a bolt-on neck version,
9:12and those I believe are less than $300 a
9:15piece. So, that's just a little food for
9:17thought of comparison for you because
9:19this guitar is quite a bit more costly
9:22to get to the US than its actual price.
9:26So, keep that in mind. So UPS literally
9:30just dropped this guitar off about an
9:32hour ago. So I ran down here to the
9:34studio uh to start the video. So let's
9:37do a quick unboxing. So basically how
9:39this is going to go is I'm going to do
9:41an unboxing today and then give my first
9:44impressions of the guitar. I'll probably
9:47poke it with the uh moisture meter. So,
9:49I did another thing I did was I freeze
9:53framed Dylan's video to find out what
9:56make and model moisture meter he had.
10:00And it it's this one here from Amazon.
10:03This thing is 30 bucks. So, I have to
10:06poke some fun at Dylan because he often
10:09talks about how, you know, you shouldn't
10:12go cheap on a guitar because it's it's
10:14important enough that if you want to
10:15learn how to make music, then you should
10:18get a good a good quality guitar that's
10:21going to last and be and be set up well.
10:23So, I have to tease Dylan a little bit
10:25for buying like one of the cheapest
10:28moisture meters that you can get. And
10:31I'm going to post some links in the
10:33description of of a video that I watched
10:36where uh somebody is comparing different
10:38it's it's you would be surprised. Now,
10:41you know, we talk about guitars and we
10:42review guitars and we argue about
10:44guitars and everything. You'd be
10:46surprised the rabbit hole you could go
10:48down when it comes to moisture meters.
10:51in as for woodworking and um firewood.
10:56Guys that burn firewood
10:59often buy moisture meters to find out
11:01when the firewood is is ready to be
11:04burned and and guys that smoke meat and
11:06everything like that. And of course,
11:07woodworkers obviously want to know what
11:09the moisture is of moisture content is
11:11of their wood. But it's like it's almost
11:15as ridiculous as guitars. These things
11:18people argue about them. There's videos
11:21devoted to comparisons between the cheap
11:25models and the expensive models. It
11:27would completely blow your mind. So, go
11:29check uh that video out. Okay, let's uh
11:32let's get this thing unboxed.
11:35Okay, so I got all my cameras set up.
11:38Here's the box that it came in. This is
11:42uh
11:44from Tommen's. Just a big box. I know
11:47some of you hate unboxings, but I'm
11:49going to unbox it just to kind of follow
11:51the steps that Dylan did. Oh, by the
11:54way, this knife was only $12.
11:58Sorry, Dylan.
12:01And they stapled it, so I really don't
12:03need to use a knife
12:08for this part anyway.
12:17Okay.
12:19And make sure we get all our angles
12:22here. Okay. So, it's got some paper in
12:25it.
12:27I This came from
12:29Germany.
12:32And
12:33then you're in a wedge box. Harley
12:37Benton wedge box.
12:39Um,
12:40so you have to assume that these things
12:42are just stacked up in Toman's
12:45warehouse.
12:47Uh, Tomman's is like a Sweetwater type
12:50thing only in the EU.
12:53Um,
12:56so okay. All right.
12:58Can we Can we see? Okay.
13:02Make sure we're on all views here.
13:07Okay.
13:10padded. Padded uh in there. Padded. This
13:13is good. I mean, it's boxed good. The
13:15the padding is kind of glued in. That's
13:18nice. I like that. It's got a actual
13:21foam block at the top. And the only
13:23reason I point those things out is
13:25because I've had guitars where, you
13:29know, the headstock has poked through
13:31the top of the box and gotten damaged.
13:34Um, Firefly is excellent at their
13:38packaging. They're they come in a square
13:41a rectangular box similar to uh what
13:44Squire or Epohone would come in, but
13:46they're they have a molded piece of foam
13:49inside to protect it. Um, you know,
13:53guitar companies don't want returns.
13:56They don't, you know, they don't want
13:57their guitars coming back. So, they're
13:58going to do what they can to make sure
14:02desicants,
14:05remember that Seinfeld EP episode? In
14:08case of emergency, rescue my guitars.
14:11That's cool. That's a
14:14a sticker that came inside the box. I
14:16like that. And it's got a nice neck rest
14:20on it. So, the packaged really well, so
14:22you really shouldn't have any issues
14:24with shipping. You get your Allen
14:27wrench,
14:30uh, cellophane bag outside, another
14:34desicant, giant desicant inside.
14:38So, they're
14:40actively trying to prevent moisture, and
14:43then you've got the soft sort of Tyveck
14:45bag on the inside that prevents
14:47scratches. Oo, it's nice looking. Oh, I
14:49like the the jade colored. Oh god, the
14:52finish on this thing is nice. the jade
14:55color. See, this is why I buy guitars,
14:57guys. This is why I'm in That's why I do
15:00this because when I when I get a new
15:03guitar, it's just so exciting. It's like
15:06Christmas. It's like, you know, it's
15:08just fun, man. It's just fun. And it
15:11doesn't matter, you know, how much they
15:14cost or where they come from.
15:18And uh
15:20they're just fun, man. They're just fun.
15:23And you know, and people want
15:26that experience. They want the fun of
15:29being able to buy
15:32uh, you know, a guitar and be a
15:34collector and be, you know, you know,
15:36nobody seems to get on people for buying
15:40multiple Fenders or Gibsons,
15:44but they get on us cheap guitar guys for
15:46having a wall of $200 guitars.
15:51But then somehow, well, for all those
15:52guitars, you could have bought one or
15:54two nice Gibson guitars. But that's not
15:56the point.
15:58You guys, the point is this is fun.
16:01Guitar is fun. And if you want to fill
16:05your wall full of guitars of all
16:08different shapes and sizes and you, you
16:11know, you can't afford to fill your wall
16:13with, you know, $12,000
16:16or $3,000 guitars, then this gives you
16:18an opportunity to enjoy the hobby. And
16:21that's what we should be focusing on is
16:24the fun of guitars. And the reason I do
16:29comparisons between expensive and cheap
16:32guitars, cheap guitars and expensive
16:34guitars, is not to discredit the
16:38expensive guitar and say, "Oh, we
16:39shouldn't have expensive guitars or buy
16:41expensive guitars." No, it's to show
16:44people that
16:46maybe have an eye towards expensive
16:48guitars, can't afford them, or maybe
16:50were like me when they when I was
16:53playing out quite a bit and I thought,
16:56man, I got to get a better guitar. I got
16:58to get a a Martin or a Taylor. And so I
17:02get a Martin
17:03uh D28 and I'm like, I don't sound any
17:07different.
17:09So that's the thing. That's sort of my
17:11whole point behind,
17:14you know, the whole budget versus
17:16expensive guitar thing is that
17:20a lot of times you're not going to sound
17:22any different. It's not a m It's not a
17:25silver bullet. An expensive guitar is
17:26not going to somehow elevate your
17:29playing if you're not that good of a
17:32player to begin with. You know, an
17:35expensive guitar is not going to make
17:37you sound that much better. So, that's
17:39okay. we rant over, but that's why I do
17:42what I do, cuz it's fun. So, this guitar
17:46is really, really sweet. I love the
17:51finish on it.
17:53So, okay. So, let's go kind of go over
17:55it with a fine tooth comb here. These
17:58are Tesla pickups. I don't know if that
18:00means anything to anybody. Uh, they're
18:02stamped Tesla on the on the uh chrome
18:05cover, so that's kind of cool. Uh fret
18:08ends are not sharp.
18:10Um Dylan talks tone had some sharp fret
18:14ends on his. Well, there might be a
18:17little bit of
18:19that one's grabbing me a little bit, but
18:21it's not sharp. It's just when you lift
18:23up on it, you can feel that that edge.
18:26You know, some of them stick out to the
18:27point where you where you can feel them
18:30cut you almost. But that one's just and
18:32it's just that one there that's grabbing
18:34me a little bit. So the but the rest of
18:36them are pretty good. So it's not it's
18:39not terrible. It's not like some some
18:41guitars that I've gotten where they're
18:44really where you run your finger across
18:46them and it's like ooh yeah and then you
18:48get a little inspection card inspected
18:50by I don't know binding is immaculate
18:56and the bindings you know clear coated
18:58over it. There's a little bit of bleed
19:01here. Oh actually that's a buff that's
19:03from buffing. There's like a dull spot
19:06right there because they buff because
19:07they they uh Well, it depends because uh
19:12when I was at the plant for Heritage,
19:15they actually scraped the binding.
19:18So, they didn't have I don't think they
19:20had clear coat over the binding, but
19:21this the clear coat is over top of the
19:24binding on this. And there's just a
19:27little dull spot right here where I
19:29think they because they buff, you know,
19:30they buff the guitar. Uh so, yeah. All
19:34right. Um, and then the binding on the
19:40fretboard is really nice.
19:43Dylan had problems with he had some
19:47little
19:49crack or something.
19:51Yeah, that's the I think that's I think
19:53this one's doing the same thing where
19:55the clear coat is coming away. I don't
19:58know. I can't see that. Let me grab a
20:00magnifier.
20:03No, those aren't cracks. It's just where
20:05the
20:07where they buffed it. It's just got
20:11like a little discoloration.
20:14I'll try to get some close-up pictures
20:16of that.
20:19But the binding, you know, it's it's not
20:21coming apart or anything. I think that's
20:24just discoloration from the
20:27maybe from the frets. These are jumbo
20:29frets. These are I don't Yeah, that's
20:30thing I'm not a big fan of. Really big
20:33frets. That's a graph nut. Perfectly
20:35cut.
20:37That looks good. I like the pearl. I
20:39think they're perlloid
20:41inlays. I don't think they're actually
20:42real.
20:44Decent looking tuners.
20:48Oh, this is made in Indonesia.
20:51I thought these were made in China.
20:54Everybody's ripping on Harley Benton for
20:56being made in China. This is not even
20:57made in China. is made in Indonesia.
21:00So, I wonder if that means these are
21:01because somebody was saying these are
21:02made in at the Court factory. So, I
21:05wonder if that's true that these are
21:06made at the Court factory. Okay. So, we
21:09got the neck joint uh with the comfort,
21:12you know, grip on it. So, they've
21:15tapered the heel
21:18on there. That's pretty good. Let's see
21:20what else.
21:22Pickups.
21:24The top is really nice. It's book
21:26matched pretty well
21:29and it's a beautiful finish. I mean,
21:31it's really nice.
21:33Deep brown or burgundy on the back and
21:35then a
21:37uh sunburst
21:39on the front. And then he mentioned
21:41something about the neck angle and the
21:44bridge.
21:46Um I don't know about what, you know,
21:50I'd have to neck looks like it might be
21:53bowed a little. So, let's uh take a
21:56straight edge to the neck. And then
21:59we'll take the uh cover off, trust rod
22:02cover off, and we'll adjust that real
22:04quick.
22:06And then uh
22:08um I suppose I should plug it in and
22:10play it because people are probably
22:11going to be upset if I don't. At least I
22:14wasn't going to do that in this episode.
22:16But plastic knobs, they're just typical.
22:20Um, these are supposedly Alnico magnets
22:22in the three-way switch is nice. Let's
22:25take the cover off the back real quick
22:27and see what type of three-way switch
22:30we've got. If it's a
22:32a decent switch or if it's a
22:36cheapo switch. It's got the little uh
22:40the little gusset or velute or whatever
22:42you want to call it on the back of the
22:45headstock there to prevent any
22:47breakages. It's a good idea. Uh uh
22:53insulated. Oh, yeah. That's a nice
22:54switch. Let me get a let me get a
22:57closeup of that. Let's see if I can show
22:59you. Yeah. See there? That's the That's
23:02the switch. Nice mechanical switch. And
23:05uh it's uh shielded shielded paint. I
23:08don't know if that's as good as the
23:10copper shielding, but it's got shielding
23:13paint in it.
23:17And uh it's a chambered body, so it's
23:18really light. I'll take a measure uh do
23:21the weight here in a second.
23:25Um I don't know, man. Um
23:31I think I mean, so far it's seems like a
23:35decent guitar. I haven't even played it
23:37yet, so I don't know what. Okay. Fulls
23:39size pots.
23:42Fullsize pots. Shielded. Smells like
23:45paint. fullsize pots, shielded uh
23:48cavity. I think I'll leave the cover off
23:51because I'm going to test that's where
23:52I'm going to test the do the moisture
23:54test at.
23:57Um let's see what else.
24:01Um I don't know. Yeah, I want I want to
24:04pull the pickups, but we'll do that. I
24:05don't want to do too much in this video
24:07because I wanted this to be quick. I
24:08wanted this to be just first
24:10impressions.
24:12So,
24:14yeah, they're pretty good, but I did
24:17want to do the moisture test on it. So,
24:18let me take the cover off the
24:23neck or the uh truss rod. And then we'll
24:26put a straight edge on it and make sure
24:27we adjust the truss rod.
24:31And then we'll tune it up real quick,
24:33too. because I want it to sit in the
24:35studio for I don't know if I'll get be
24:38able to get them probes down in there,
24:41but I want it to sit in the studio for
24:45about a week before I you know to see if
24:47it shifts to see if it, you know. So,
24:50let's see if this
24:52truss rod is even engaged at all.
24:58I don't know. It's hard to say. I think
25:01it is. I don't think it's loose, but
25:04we'll we'll fix well, you know, we'll
25:06work on that, too. So, I need a stand
25:09and then we'll couple more things and
25:11then we'll we'll wrap this up cuz I
25:13we're getting long here. Okay. So, I got
25:15my straight edge,
25:18straight
25:20edge, and I got the measuring tool for
25:23the action as well. And then we'll I'll
25:26plug it in real quick and we'll
25:33you know it's actually not
25:38it's not bowed.
25:41It's pretty straight. It's got a little
25:45little relief to it cuz the those little
25:49you know the little tabs aren't setting
25:52exactly flat.
25:55on the fretboard.
25:57So, that makes me want to at least maybe
26:00I'll tighten it up just a little bit to
26:02maybe try to flatten that. Oh, and then
26:05another inspected by and this is
26:08inspected by and a signature and then 34
26:14of 20
26:1626. So, this was three would be January,
26:21February, March. So March 4th. Oh, wait.
26:24They do things backwards over there,
26:25don't they?
26:28Don't they do the day the day and then
26:30the month over in Europe? So maybe it's
26:36April.
26:39So this guitar was inspect. So I don't
26:42know if that's when it was made or when
26:44it was brought into the into you know
26:49Tolman's to be I mean this is Tolman's
26:53this must be Tolman's quality check
26:58now what they check who knows
27:01of course way out of tune
27:04and these are nice tuners
27:12Somebody had tuned it up at one point
27:13because it's not really that far
27:21and it's got tens and I like tens.
27:29Fretboard is pretty dry, so I'll say
27:31that about it.
27:34But it's clean. The inlays are perfect.
27:40And then intonation. We'll check.
27:43That's
27:46Wow, that's on.
27:51Wow. It's on. Yeah. I mean, I don't
27:54know, man.
27:56And action on the
27:59is right about two between two and 2.5
28:05millimeters on the high or the low E and
28:09one between 1.5 and 1.75 on the high E.
28:12That's I mean that's that's ideal. So
28:14this thing is set up.
28:20I don't know man. See, see this is what
28:24Okay.
28:27H I don't know. So
28:30when I review guitars, when I started
28:33reviewing guitars
28:35and realized that there was this sort of
28:39debate, this battle between the budget
28:42guitars and expensive guitars.
28:45And I was like, "Oh yeah, you got to get
28:47an expensive guitar to be professional."
28:49and you know that that that as you
28:51progress as a player, you would you
28:53would naturally want to get a more
28:55expensive guitar to elevate your playing
28:58and to you know be that much better.
29:02So then I would every time I would get
29:04an expensive guitar, you know,
29:06expensive, I say expensive, I mean to me
29:08$3,000 is expensive for a guitar. I
29:11don't like to spend, you know, $1,000 on
29:13a guitar, you know, I never had money. I
29:17was, you know, I didn't grow up with a
29:19lot of money. Um, you know, and
29:21everybody's always like, oh, you know,
29:22if you can afford this, you can afford a
29:24guitar. It's like whatever. You don't
29:25know what people's individual situations
29:28are. When I was young, when I was in my
29:3020s, my wife and I didn't have
29:32man. We were broke. We were broke. We
29:35were in debt. We were in, you know, cuz
29:38we couldn't afford anything, so we put
29:39everything on credit cards. So, we were
29:40in credit card debt. And that's the way
29:42a lot of people are. Some people live
29:44their whole lives that way. Luckily, you
29:46know, we were able to, you know, I was
29:50able to get better jobs and and make
29:53more money as we went along. And then 13
29:55years ago, we started our own business
29:58and we we do pretty good. If I want to
30:00buy a Gibson Les Paul, I could buy a
30:02Gibson Les Paul. But I'm still I still
30:06have the the broke guy mindset because,
30:10you know, because I never had money and
30:12I was always in debt, always in credit
30:14card debt that I'm afraid to, you know,
30:17I don't I feel it's painful to spend
30:20that kind of money because you're like,
30:21"Oh my god, that's a lot of money." You
30:23know, and so so that's why it kind of
30:26gets under my skin a little bit when
30:28people are like, "Oh, well, just, you
30:29know, just save your money." Because you
30:30don't know what people's situation is.
30:33So then when I finally got to the point
30:34where I could afford more expensive
30:36guitars, I was I was sort of reviewing
30:39Strat style guitars more or less at the
30:42time and I was buying Strat style
30:45guitars off of Goodwill auctions. So I
30:47finally got an Americanmade Fender Strat
30:50and I had I also had a Mexican
30:53uh made Fender Strat. That one had the
30:55plus top on it. And then I had a Squire
30:58and then I had some cheaper imported
31:01Strat style guitars. And I'm just like,
31:04what's the difference?
31:06You know, what's the difference between
31:08why is this one $1,200 and this one only
31:11$200? And it just I couldn't wrap my
31:14head around why the Fender cost so much
31:17more, but didn't sound any different. It
31:21didn't even feel any different. I mean,
31:23the Chinese companies and the Asian
31:25companies that build guitars build them
31:27to Fender Spec. That's what they're
31:29copying. That's why there's lawsuits.
31:32That's why there's all this drama around
31:34the copies because they're doing it so
31:37well that Fender's got to be feeling it.
31:40That's why they're suing these people.
31:43And so that's the whole
31:46crux of my, you know, that's how my
31:49channel got started was like, I don't
31:51see the difference. And then of course
31:53people say, well, if you can't see the
31:54difference, that's because you're you're
31:56not a good player and blah blah blah.
31:58And as you get better, you can tell the
31:59difference. And I don't know if I agree
32:02with that. I think the more guitars you
32:05handle,
32:06then you just know what they feel like,
32:09the difference between how they feel.
32:12But if you sat this in my lap and then
32:14you sat the Heritage Ascent in my lap, I
32:17mean, if you sat my my Heritage H150 in
32:20my lap, I know that it was the H150
32:23because it weighs 10 lb. And this guitar
32:26only probably weighs
32:288 lb. I bet
32:30this video is getting too long. I'm I'm
32:32talking too much. So, we'll have to uh
32:34There we go.
32:38Okay, so it's eight.
32:40It's a little over eight.
32:42Okay, so enough enough philosophical
32:45debate. Let's plug it in real quick and
32:48do a quick sound check and then I'll
32:51stab it with the moisture meter without
32:54destroying it and then we'll we'll wrap
32:57this up.
33:06Okay, so I'm going into and I know this
33:08is going to ruffle people too. I'm going
33:10into bias effects. It's an amp modeler.
33:12Um, my amp is upstairs because I'm in a
33:15band. I took it to practice. I don't
33:17want to drag it down from the garage.
33:19I'd have to set it up. I'd have to mic
33:20it. I'd have to do all that crap. No,
33:23I'm going into a modeler. The other day,
33:25somebody had commented, I think it was
33:27on Dylan Talks Tone. Oh, we can't tell
33:29how the guitar sounds if you go through
33:31a modeler because a modeler is going to
33:33make any guitar sound good. What
33:38I mean it's like you guys just you want
33:42it both ways. You want it's like oh the
33:46tone is in the fingers but you can't
33:49tell what a guitar sounds like if you go
33:51through a modeler because the modeler
33:52can make any guitar sound good. I don't
33:55get it. Or you know you have to play a
33:58guitar through clean in order for us to
34:00tell what it sounds like. Or you don't
34:02know how to play guitar very well. So,
34:05we don't know what that guitar really
34:06sounds like. Where do you guys come up
34:09with this stuff? I really don't get it.
34:11So, yeah. So, I'm going through a
34:13modeler.
34:16It's It's just so crazy. It's like
34:21H.
34:24Okay, let's see if we can get some tones
34:27out of this. There's way too much
34:28reverb.
34:30Let's turn that down.
34:34I'm fired up today. Oh
34:38Oh yeah.
34:41Got good tone. I think it sounds great.
34:50Yeah, not bad. The pickups are a little
34:54muddy maybe.
35:06Yeah, maybe a little muddy.
35:11Yeah, which you can always
35:14solve that through when Dylan Talks Tone
35:17did his he did a comparison. Well, he
35:20actually took the pickups out and put
35:21them in a a less Paul. And I thought in
35:24his test, I thought the pickups from the
35:26Harley Benton sounded better because
35:28they were brighter. I thought his his
35:31pickups from the Les Paul sounded like
35:36darker. Not really muddy, but just
35:38darker. But this these actually kind of
35:40sound muddy. So this is the H150 Ascent.
35:45Sounds the same.
35:47A little out of tune, but
35:53So let me pick a different model.
35:58There we go.
36:18Yeah, it's not bad. It's It sounds
36:20pretty good, I think. I don't know. I
36:22I'm not a
36:24I mean, I think the pickups aren't
36:26great.
36:28They're not rich. They're not really
36:30rich. Like, you know,
36:34maybe a little thin. Um,
36:56but like I said, it's intonated perfect.
36:58It's uh
37:01I mean, it's playable right out of the
37:02box. That's another thing people are
37:03like, "Oh, it should be playable right
37:04out of the box. And that was one of the
37:07things Dylan said was that, you know,
37:08when you pay, even if you paid well,
37:10say, you know, I mean, we might as well
37:13call it a 400
37:15what what it was, what what did I say?
37:17460 after it was all said and done. So,
37:20$475 guitar. So, you might as well call
37:22it that because that's what it cost to
37:24get here.
37:26But I think this is as every bit as good
37:28as the I probably shouldn't say that
37:30because I haven't reviewed this guitar
37:32yet, but uh the Heritage Ascent. I mean,
37:35it's pretty damn close.
37:38And that's $6.99.
37:41So, okay. Uh we have not done the
37:44moisture test yet. So, let's do that.
37:46We're going to stick it in. So, this
37:49video went way too long. And then
37:51another thing I found out is you can't
37:54stick this in
37:56where there's shielding because the
37:58shielding shorts these two things out
38:01and it screws up the reading. So, but
38:03there's some right here that's not
38:06shielded. It's just the lacquer. So,
38:09then you have to go through the lacquer.
38:12And I'm just doing it on the inside of
38:14the um cavity where the cover, you know,
38:18goes over it. So, it's not damaging
38:20anything, not ruining the guitar.
38:25That's pretty soft wood.
38:27Okay. So, I've got
38:308%.
38:338.1,
38:36which is now, see, that's the thing.
38:38These things are not very accurate
38:40according to the guy on the internet. So
38:44then one of my complaints about Dylan's
38:48test
38:49was that and he later did go back and
38:51say that he tested the underside of a a
38:54table or something, but he should have
38:56tested
38:57uh one of his other guitars or a piece
39:00of wood, something that he knew was was
39:03dry because that's, you know, when
39:05you're doing tic experiments, not to get
39:08all scientific, but when you're doing
39:09experiments, you should have a control,
39:11you know, but we have no way of knowing
39:13what if this is accurate or not. Okay,
39:16so this is a piece of ash
39:19from my wood shop. This is from a local
39:23lumber company. Um, these are blanks
39:27that I pieces that I bought to build
39:29guitars with.
39:31So, let's stick this in here.
39:35See, now that's 7.9.
39:38Okay. So, so I would say that that is
39:42dry according to that measurement
39:46because those two things are basically
39:49equal, but 8% is high. Um, but this
39:54thing could be off by a couple
39:56percentage points. Um, humidity in the
39:59studio, I live in Michigan and it's
40:02damp. It's been damp this year. So,
40:05humidity in my studio is right now is
40:0760%. Okay? And that's right about
40:11on the edge of being ideal and high.
40:16And it's uh 75° in here right now. It's
40:20a little warm down here actually. So
40:22then this is
40:25a body XGP body from Guitar Fetish.
40:35And that's also 8.1.
40:39So,
40:43so I'm confident that that is
40:46that this thing is is dry.
40:50So, let me stick it. Uh,
40:55no, I can't get it in there. But that's
40:57fine. I'm I'm good. I'm good with that.
41:01Like I said, I don't want to ruin it. I
41:03don't I don't know. I've just never been
41:05a big fan of like when people smash
41:07guitars on stage. I'm just like, h, why
41:11why would you do that?
41:13Those are really good tuners, by the
41:14way, if I didn't I think I mentioned
41:16that already. So, um yeah. Wow, dude.
41:21Okay. Um let's I've gone way too way too
41:25long on this.
41:30Um, maybe this should have been a live
41:32stream, but anyway. Okay. So, then
41:35another thing he, you know, he cut it
41:37open
41:39and he claimed that it, you know, he
41:41took the test to it. Um,
41:45I'm not sure. I I mean, I can't I can't,
41:49you know, I can't explain why it was 18%
41:51inside. Maybe the inside of the wood is
41:54wet, but I don't know. I mean, the only
41:57way to to to,
42:00you know, duplicate his findings would
42:03be to cut this apart, but I'm not doing
42:05that. I just can't. I can't. So, yeah.
42:08So, that's a mystery. I don't know.
42:09That's uh
42:12it could be the tool that he used. It
42:14could be
42:18the the wood. I don't know. I really
42:21can't explain it. I can't explain it,
42:23folks. I don't know. All I know is this
42:25seems like a really good guitar. Um
42:30uh another thing is is nobody's going to
42:34believe me. Nobody is going to believe
42:36this video. I mean, not no one, but the
42:38people that follow,
42:41you know, Dylan's page and they and they
42:43listen to Dylan and they believe Dylan
42:47are going to believe him and they're
42:49going to think that I'm full of
42:51because they're going to say that, "Oh,
42:53you you fudge the numbers or something."
42:55Same with Dylan. The people on my page
42:59that don't agree with him or the people
43:02that support, you know, budget guitars
43:04think he's full of They think he
43:06maybe fudged the numbers or didn't do
43:08something accurate.
43:11So, nobody's going to believe either one
43:13of us.
43:15So, and it's interesting because now I'm
43:18seeing it's funny how, you know, cuz I
43:20hate to use the word influencer, but we
43:22really are. I mean, you know, when
43:24we're,
43:26you know, reviewing guitars, even if
43:28we're just buying them ourselves and
43:30reviewing them, we are influencing
43:33people, people's decisions, and
43:36influencing how they think. Because, you
43:38know, Dylan did the video about the
43:40guitar and he cut it apart and it was
43:4118% and he talks about how they don't
43:43dry
43:45the guitars or the wood rather. And then
43:48Phil Mcnite did a a video as well where
43:51he talks about how the court factory has
43:53the big kiln and they dry the guitars to
43:56the 7 whatever percent and that the
43:58smaller companies don't have those kils
44:01and so they don't dry them. That doesn't
44:05mean they're not using dry wood because
44:08I bought this from a local lumber
44:10company and it's dry. Okay? They cure it
44:13and dry it. They do all this stuff. So,
44:14these smaller shops can probably buy
44:17wood that has been dried or they stack
44:21it up. You know, if I, you know, I've
44:24got a maple tree out in my backyard that
44:26that was cut down. If I wanted to use
44:28the wood from it, I'd cut it up into
44:29planks and sticker it and stick it under
44:31a tarp and let it dry for a couple
44:32years,
44:34you know. And they're saying, "Well,
44:35they don't have time to do that." And
44:36so, they they make, you know, guitars
44:39out of wet wood. So now that's what I'm
44:43seeing in my comments. So I did the
44:45video on the uh Toastar Teleer the other
44:49day and I had a guy that was, you know,
44:53one of Dylan's
44:55subscribers cuz he mentioned Dylan and I
44:57didn't even mention Dylan in that video
44:59and he mentioned that, oh well those
45:01guitars aren't going to last because
45:03they're they're not dried. So now I'm
45:05getting comments in my videos that
45:10cheap. So that's the theme now is cheap
45:12guitars aren't dry.
45:15So if another influencer says something
45:17else about cheap guitars, then that'll
45:20start showing up in in my comments. And
45:23I'm sure maybe things that I say show up
45:26in in their comments. I know I watch a
45:29lot of Phil Mcgnit's content and he'll
45:33say something and two weeks later people
45:35are paring what he said about something
45:38in in the comments of my of my videos.
45:42And often times they're not saying
45:46things accurately either because
45:48somebody posted if you I'll post some
45:51links. There's a video, this is the same
45:54video that um Phil Mcnite did about the
45:58Court Factory and guitars and drying and
46:00everything like that. And somebody in
46:02his live stream was commenting about
46:05Dylan Talks Tone, the Harley Benton
46:08thing, and they said it was 30%
46:13inside the guitar. So they weren't even
46:16they weren't even using factual
46:18information from Dylan's video because
46:20Dylan recorded eight a little over 18%.
46:24So Phil Mcnite is like well no that's
46:26impossible. The 35% is impossible.
46:29And so people are you know they're
46:32watching they're getting this
46:33information but then they're re re you
46:36know regurgitating the information
46:38incorrectly
46:40you know and I don't think they're doing
46:41it maliciously or on purpose. people
46:43just don't remember uh you know
46:46accurately and so it become it becomes
46:49this whole snowball effect and uh and I
46:54like that Dylan does videos about this.
46:57He does videos about what people say in
46:59the comments and he kind of calls his
47:02viewers out for some of the comments
47:05that they make. And I think uh I think
47:07we should all do that as uh content
47:10creators cuz we get lamb basted all the
47:12time in the comments. So I don't think
47:14there's any reason why we shouldn't call
47:16out commenters when they're, you know,
47:19when they're full of cuz they think
47:21we're full of all the time. So
47:22anyway, I I know this went way long. It
47:25should probably should have been a live
47:26stream or a podcast or something, but I
47:29just haven't gotten into the live stream
47:30stuff yet. Anyway, that's that's first
47:35impressions on the Harley Benton. Uh,
47:38I'm going to do a proper review where I
47:40tear it down, you know, not cut it
47:42apart, tear it down, just, you know,
47:44take the pickups out, look at it, test
47:46them, um, do all that stuff. Maybe I'll
47:49do what Dylan did and and swap pickups
47:51with another another guitar. Maybe do
47:54some sideby-side comparisons between
47:55this one and my Heritage H150 and then
47:58the Ascent back here. I think that would
48:00be good. I have a Chillcat Les Paul
48:03style guitar coming. Um that I got a
48:06great deal on that was under $300. Those
48:09look like they're really nice guitars.
48:11Also made in China, of course. Um so
48:14we'll see how that goes. But like I
48:16said, they're if you watch Strings and
48:17Pucks, he he talked all about how
48:20they're getting
48:23um I don't know if they got a cease and
48:25desist, but Gibson basically went after
48:28their ISP and said these people are in
48:30violation of trademark. And so their ISP
48:32shut them down. So their website was
48:34offline for
48:36quite a few days. But uh somebody had
48:39mentioned Chillcat. So I'm like, I'll go
48:41get a Chillcat. So I go on Chillcap's
48:44website. It was there. It was just a few
48:46days ago. And uh the guitar that I
48:49ordered was normally $3.99. I think it
48:52was marked down to like 369.
48:54And then when I put it in the cart and
48:56went to check out, they took like 90
48:59bucks off of it. So it was less than
49:03It was less than 300. It was 200 280
49:05bucks, 260ome bucks for that. So that's
49:08on its way. And then I'm trying to do
49:11this gear exchange thing, which I got
49:12way too many responses than I thought I
49:14would get because
49:20yeah, when you offer to give stuff away,
49:22then all of a sudden then you get a lot
49:24of views, I guess. So, but I didn't
49:25think I would get as many views and as
49:27many people as are interested. So, now I
49:30got to figure out how to manage all
49:31that. But, I'm going to get some free
49:32gear out to some people. I don't have as
49:35much as you guys maybe thought I did
49:37because I got a lot of responses and I
49:39don't have like a warehouse full of
49:41stuff too because I got people asking
49:43for specific
49:44specific make and model. I got people
49:46asking for bass guitars. I got it's like
49:49whoa, wait a minute. Put the brakes on.
49:52I don't have all that stuff. I got, you
49:54know, I got a handful of things and some
49:56pedals and and stuff like that. So, but
49:58we'll work all that out. But anyway,
50:01it's fun, man. This is great. It's it's
50:03it's a blast being a content creator on
50:06YouTube. You guys make things fun and
50:08interesting and uh I just hope that we
50:11all can get along though. I mean, it's,
50:13you know, it's a guitar at the end of
50:15the day, guys. I mean, it's not, you
50:17know, if you want to argue about
50:18politics and and hot button topics like
50:21that and get really mad and call each
50:23other names, that's fine. But, man, it's
50:25guitar. It's rock and roll. We're
50:27supposed to be we're all supposed to be
50:28like rebels and against authority. And
50:31that's what we were in the 80s, you
50:32know, it was like rock and roll was like
50:34a big middle finger to establishment and
50:38now you guys are like, "Oh, Fender is
50:40the greatest corporation ever." And but
50:43it's like, yeah, they're the big bad
50:45corporation now. It's like we used to
50:47write songs again against that type of
50:50thing and now we're like, you know,
50:51whatever. So anyway, h this has been a
50:55crazy crazy
50:58like week in in in the guitar week and a
51:01half maybe in the guitar community. This
51:03whole Harley Benton thing is just it's
51:05taking on a life of its own. But I
51:07appreciate Dylan for being such a good
51:08sport about this. Uh he's he's even
51:10talked about maybe getting me on his
51:12podcast, which would be fun. I think
51:14we're like polar opposites as far as
51:17like how we view guitars and stuff like
51:19that. So, I think we'd have some good
51:20discussions about about things. He's a
51:23cool guy. He doesn't, you know, you
51:25know, um people kind of uh bust his
51:29chops a little bit for being, you know,
51:32um they like pick on him about being
51:35country club or something like that or
51:37being, you know, because he's wears the
51:39watches and he's got some nice knives
51:41and everything. But, you know, if you
51:43can afford that kind of and that's
51:44what you're into, then why not, you
51:46know? Um, you know, I got a bunch of
51:48guitars and and I I got a
51:51expensive ass computer sitting up here.
51:53You know, I I spent, you know, that
51:55would have been a nice less Paul guitar
51:59sitting up there. Um, and the uh
52:01graphics cards that I put in it. So, you
52:05know, so I, you know, I do spend money
52:08sometimes on on things that I want. Um,
52:12but anyway, that's a discussion for
52:14another day. Thank you so much for
52:16tuning in. Uh, I appreciate everybody
52:19that follows the channel. Even if you
52:20don't subscribe, I wish you would
52:22subscribe. It'd be great if everybody
52:23that watched the channel subscribed. Um,
52:27I'd have a lot more subscribers. I don't
52:29think I'll ever get to that silver play
52:30button, but uh um I don't know. It'd be
52:33nice to get up into the 50,000
52:35subscriber range. Um, still not making a
52:38living from doing this. I know a lot of
52:40people like to, you know, talk about
52:42how, you know, we're shills for these
52:45companies and we're making all this
52:47money and we got all this gear and
52:49everything and, you know, I got a bunch
52:50of cheap gear sitting here that I can't
52:52even sell or give away. So, that's why I
52:55set up that gear exchange. But, yeah,
52:56it's like we're not, you know,
52:59influencers, these the guitar,
53:01especially the guitar guys, we're not
53:02making tons of money. So, if you want to
53:06keep believing that fantasy, go right
53:08ahead. Jay Allen for Jay Allen Guitar.
53:11Thanks for tuning in, everybody. And as
53:13always, we'll leave the amp on for you.

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